The annual Baseball Preview review

Been waiting to get the Sports Illustrated Baseball Preview Issue before posting this. Today’s the day so…

There was an interesting conversation in the Facebook baseball book group. One gent wanted a recommendation for a good book about baseball stats. A book! Didn’t want a website! Old school.

That got us thinking: the beauty of on-line baseball stats is that you can pretty much find anything, no matter how old or new a stat there is. One group member suggested the Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia, which has been out of print for decades. I countered with Total Baseball, which is also out of print but has some of the newer metrics.

The same “philosophy” carries over to print magazines. Athlon and The Sporting News ($7.99 apiece) released their publications over a ago, perhaps to give fantasy players a jump in researching their faux teams (each company puts out a separate fantasy issue). Their individual team analyses are amazingly similar: each consist of four pages; the vertical layouts for schedules and rosters are identical.

Major Features

“Food for Thought,” about lack of nutrition in minor leaguers’ diets

“Black Cloud,” about the paucity of African-Americans in the game

“The Long, Hard Road to Respect,” a very brief history of African-Americans in Baseball

“No Way Out?” how to get back to pre-steroids baseball

“Raising Arizona,” about spring training sites there

“Royal Resurgence”

Mixed Reviews,” an assessment of the first year of wider video reviews

“Short Hops,” brief amusing/insightful items

“Fifteen Things to Watch in 2015”

“A-Rod: A Con Man Returns to the Game” (Gee, Tyler Kepner, don’t hold back; tell us how you really feel)

“Maddon Mania Hits Chicago”

“October Ace,” Madison Bumgarner profile

“Penny Wise of Dollar Foolish,” an assessment of salaries

“2005 Draft Revisited”

Roster / Lineups

Yes, with grades. Includes projected lineups, rotations, and depth charts

Trying to be more relevant, ESPN The Magazine (biweekly) and SI (weekly) wait as long as their editorial calendars will allow. Obviously they have the latest information available, given their production schedules. Not that that much has happened in spring training. With opening day about a week away, we haven’t seen the kind of trades we have in the past that make the preseason interesting.

Feature(s)

“What is Giancarlo Stanton Thinking?” by Tim Keown”Pay This Man!” (Jonathan Lucroy profile), by Robert SanchezProfile of Daniel Norris, the Blue Jays’ pitching prospect who chooses to live in a van, by Eli Saslow

“Wait Till This Year,” by Tom Verducci (teams that could contend for championship)”Speed Kills,” by Verducci (Pitching)”Battle Mode,” by Ben Reiter (Hitting)”The Renaissance of Clint Hurdle,” by Albert Chen”The Man They Love to Hate,” profile on Bryce Harper by Verducci

Free 501 checklist available (Excel/spreadhseet format). Makes it fun to check off which books you've read and handy to bring to the bookstore or library to get what you still want to read. Send your request via email to ronkaplansbaseballbookshelf (@)gmail(dot)com.

The envelope, please…

Ron by Roth

In my most recent "day job," I was the sports and features editor for a weekly New Jersey newspaper, where I hosted another blog. Busy, busy, busy.

I did a profile piece on the award-winning cartoonist Arnold Roth and he was nice enough to "immortalize" me.

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My Cubs: A Love Story, by Scott Simon
Grade: B+. I always get a kick when someone outside of the game who is serious fan, and not just someone looking to glom on to the extra celebrity status of running with a winner, publishes a heartfelt book like this.